Regional meeting for Asia-Pacific States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

On 3-4 December, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs hosted a regional meeting for Asia-Pacific States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Representatives of 31 regional States Parties, expert presenters and members of the Bureau of the 2020 NPT Review Conference came together at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, to examine the Treaty. Topics discussed include each of the NPT’s three pillars – disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy – as well as the procedural aspects of the Review Conference and regional perspectives on the Treaty.

This regional meeting is part of a series made possible by a project generously funded by the European Union in line with its Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/615 of 15 April 2019 on Union support for activities leading up to the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT. The first one, for African NPT States Parties, took place in Addis Ababa in August 2019.

The discussion at the regional meeting was informed by presentations by representatives of the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Preparatory Committee for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Asia-Pacific Safeguards Network, the UN Institute for Disarmament Research and the World Nuclear Association, as well as panels of representatives of Regional States Parties.

Two members of the Bureau of the Review Conference, Her Excellency Marjolijn van Deelen (Netherlands), Chair-designate of Main Committee III at the Review Conference, and His Excellency Syed Mohamad Hasrin Aidid (Malaysia), Chair-designate of Main Committee I, were present to steer proceedings and to listen directly to States Parties’ priorities and concerns.

The 2020 Review Conference, which will be held in New York from 27 April to 22 May 2020, will mark the 50th anniversary of the NPT’s entry-into-force and the 25th anniversary of its indefinite extension. Taking place every five years, review conferences serve to take stock of the implementation of the Treaty and to adopt recommendations for follow-on action.

Having entered into force in 1970, the NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.